This invention is related to silver halide imaging elements, combinations, and processes that employ a color film bearing a micro-lens array on the support side of the element to converge the image light and thereby increasing the range of ambient light that can be used in the capture of an image. The micro-lenses act in conjunction with the incorporated silver halide emulsions to record scene information under extended low and high illumination conditions. Useful images are formed by extraction of the recorded scene information.
In conventional photography, it is well known to record images by controllably exposing a photosensitive element to light from a scene. Typically, such a photosensitive element comprises one or more photosensitive layers supported by a flexible substrate such as film and/or a non-flexible substrate such as a glass plate. The photosensitive layers, which can have one or more light sensitive silver halide emulsions along with product appropriate imaging chemistry, react to the energy provided by the light from the scene. The extent of this reaction is a function of the amount of light received per unit area of the element during exposure. The extent of this reaction is greater in areas of the element that are exposed to more light during an exposure than in areas that are exposed to less light. Thus, when light from the scene is focused onto a photosensitive element, differences in the levels of light from the scene are captured as differences in the extent of the reaction in the layers. After a development step, the differences in the extent of the reaction in the layers appear as picture regions having different densities. These densities form an image of the original scene luminance.
It is characteristic of silver halide emulsions to have a non-linear response when exposed to ambient light from a scene. In this regard a photosensitive element has a lower response threshold that defines the minimum exposure at which the incorporated emulsions and associated chemistry begins to react so that different levels of exposure enable the formation of different densities. This lower threshold ultimately relates to the quantum efficiency of individual silver halide emulsion grains. Typically, all portions of a photosensitive element that are exposed to light at a level below the lower response threshold have a common appearance when the photosensitive element is developed.
Further, a photosensitive element also has an upper response threshold that defines the exposure level below which the emulsion and associated chemistries react so that different levels of exposure enable the formation of different densities. Typically, all portions of an element that are exposed at a level above the upper response threshold will again have a common appearance after the photosensitive element is developed.
Thus elements can be said to have both a lower response threshold and an upper response threshold which bracket a useful range of exposures wherein the element is capable of reacting to differences in exposure levels by recording a contrast pattern with contrast differences that are differentiable. The exposure levels associated with these lower and upper thresholds define the exposure latitude of the element. To optimize the appearance of an image, therefore, it is typically useful to arrange the exposure so that the range of exposure levels encountered is within the latitude or useful range of the element.
It will be appreciated that many consumer and professional photographers prefer to use photosensitive elements, camera systems, and photography methods that permit image capture over a wide range of photographic conditions. One approach to meeting this objective is to provide photosensitive elements with wide latitude. However, extremely wide latitude photosensitive elements are fundamentally limited by the nature of the response of the individually incorporated silver halide grains to light. Accordingly, it is common to provide camera systems and photography methods that work to effectively extend the lower response limit and upper response limit of a photosensitive element by modifying the luminance characteristics of the scene. For example, it is known to effectively extend the lower response limit of the photosensitive element by providing supplemental illumination to dark scenes.
It is also known to increase the quantity of the light acting on a photosensitive element without providing supplemental illumination by using a taking lens system designed to increase the amount of light from the scene that is available to the photosensitive element to make an exposure possible. However, lenses that pass substantial light also inherently reduce the depth-of field of the associated camera system. This solution is thus not universally suitable for pictorial imaging with fixed focus cameras since scenes may not then be properly focused. This solution is also not preferred in variable focused cameras as such lens systems can be expensive, and difficult to design, install and maintain.
It will also be appreciated that there is a direct relationship between the duration of exposure and quantity of light from the scene that strikes the photosensitive element during an exposure. Accordingly, another way known in the art for increasing the amount of light acting on a photosensitive element during an exposure is to increase the duration of the exposure using the expedient of a longer open shutter. This, however, degrades upper exposure limits. Further, increased shutter open time can cause the shutter to remain open for a period that is long enough to permit the composition of a scene to evolve. This results in a blurred image. Accordingly, there is a desire to limit shutter open time.
Thus, what is also needed is a less complex and less costly camera system and photography method allowing the capture of images at action speed appropriate shutter times and particularly with cameras having a fixed shutter time.
Another way to increase the quantity of the light acting on a photosensitive element during an exposure is to use a conventional taking lens system to collect light from a scene and to project this light from the scene onto an array of micro-lenses, such as an array of linear lenticular lenses that are located proximate to the film. An example of this is shown in Chretien U.S. Pat. No. 1,838,173. Each micro-lens concentrates a portion of the light from the scene onto associated areas of the film. By concentrating light in this manner, the amount of light incident on each concentrated exposure area of the photosensitive element is increased to a level that is above the lower response threshold of the film. This permits an image to be formed by contrast patterns in the densities of the concentrated exposure areas.
Images formed in this manner are segmented: the concentrated exposure areas form a concentrated image of the scene and remaining portions of the photosensitive element form a pattern of unexposed artifacts in the concentrated image. In conventionally rendered prints of such images this pattern has an unpleasing low contrast and a half-tone look much like newspaper print. Thus, the micro-lens or lenticular assisted low light photography of the prior art is ill suited for use in high quality markets such as those represented by consumers and professional photographers.
However, micro-lens arrays, and in particular, lenticular arrays have found other applications in photography. For example, in the early days of color photography, linear lenticular image capture was used in combination with color filters as means for splitting the color spectrum to allow for color photography using black and while silver halide imaging systems. This technology was commercially employed in the first color motion picture projection systems as is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 2,191,038. In the 1940s it was proposed to use lenticular screens to capture color images for direct viewing using black and white photosensitive element in instant photography U.S. Pat. No. 2,922,103. In the 1970""s, U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,185 disclosed an improvement providing for the use of lenticular arrays to create viewable images having increased contrast characteristics. By minimizing the size of the unexposed areas, the line pattern became almost invisible and was therefore less objectionable. Also in the 1970s, it was proposed to expose photosensitive element through a moving lenticular screen U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,334. Finally, in the 1990""s linear lenticular-ridged supports having three-color layers and an antihalation layer were employed for 3-D image presentation materials. These linear lenticular arrays were used to form interleaved print images from multiple views of a scene captured in multiple lens camera. The interleaved images providing a three dimensional appearance. Examples of this technique is disclosed by Lo et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,128 and by Ip, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,291. It is recognized that these disclosures relate to methods, elements and apparatus adapted to the formation of 3-D images from capture of multiple scene perspectives that are suitable for direct viewing. They fail to enable photography with shutter times suitable for use in hand-held cameras.
Thus, while micro-lens assisted photography has found a variety of uses, it has yet to fulfill the original promise of effectively extending the lower response threshold of a photosensitive element to permit the capture of commercially acceptable images at low scene brightness levels. What is needed, therefore, is a method and apparatus for capturing lenticular images on a photosensitive element and using the captured photosensitive element image to form a commercially acceptable print or other output.
It can also occur that it is useful to capture images under imaging conditions that are above the upper response threshold of the photosensitive element. Such conditions can occur with bright scenes that are to be captured under daylight, snow pack and beach situations. Typically, cameras use aperture control, shutter timing control and filtering systems reduce the intensity of light from the scene so that the light that confronts the photosensitive element has an intensity that is within the upper limit of the photosensitive element. However, these systems can add significant complexity and cost to the design of the camera. Further, the expedient of using a lens with a more open aperture to improve the lower threshold limit as discussed earlier simultaneously passes more light and degrades the exposure at the upper response threshold. Thus, what is also needed is a simple, less costly, camera system and photography method for capturing images over a range of scene brightness levels that is greater than the latitude of the photosensitive element.
It is a problem to be solved to provide a photographic element having improved sensitivity and latitude in scene exposure range.
The invention provides light sensitive photographic element suitable for image capture followed by machine reading to produce a single perspective two-dimensional color image, said element comprising a two-sided support
(a) having disposed on one side of said support a red light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer unit, a green light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer unit, and a blue light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer unit, and
(b) having disposed on the opposing side of said support a convergent micro-lens array located and sized to be sufficient to concentrate the image light of a single perspective of an image incident on an area of a micro-lens onto a smaller area of the emulsion layer units.
The invention also provides a camera combination and imaging method. Embodiments of the invention provide improved sensitivity and latitude in scene exposure range.